Economy and business

Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene’s budget speech has received mixed reactions. While income tax is being raised for the first time in 20 years, small to medium sized businesses set to benefit by the doubling of the turnover tax threshold. This summary of the budget shows how Nene’s changes will affect your pocket.

On Wednesday 25 February Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene delivered his first national Budget, one of the most critical and challenging of South Africa's democratic history. Watch the full address here.

The budget will be a balancing act. Reining in spending and raising taxes will usher in a few years of pain – not very heavy pain, but unavoidable pain – and the finance minister will need to find a way to spread it among as many groups as possible without causing anger or resentment.

With the theme "Together We Move South Africa Forward", the 2015 State of the Nation Address will be an opportunity to celebrate progress South Africa has made over the past year, and an opportunity to highlight priorities for the next. Let's look at the numbers that make up the event.

According to a recent African Union high-level panel, Africa loses $50-billion annually to fraud and corruption. This has impeded development projects and denied the poorest access to crucial services.

Safety in mines is a big issue in South Africa, and robots produced by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research present the perfect solution. Its Mobile Intelligence Autonomous Systems group created and tested robots that can monitor the safety of mines after blasting.